We’re Counting on You: Raise $50K for Streetsblog in Our First Pledge Drive

If you enjoy Streetsblog and believe in the work we do to inform people about how New York can become a better city — with world-class streets, less traffic, safer biking and walking, and great transit options — please give generously to our first year-end pledge drive. Your donation will help ensure that Streetsblog NYC continues to influence policy makers and elevate the public debate about transportation and planning in our trend-setting global metropolis.

Before I go any further, a big thank you goes out to all the readers who gave to Streetsblog NYC when we first asked for contributions earlier this year. Thanks to you we’re on the path toward making Streetsblog a financially self-sustaining voice for change that will be here for years to come. I hope you’ll continue your support for Streetsblog and contribute again.

If you haven’t given before, we need your support to finish the job. We’re counting on you and all of Streetsblog NYC’s regular readers to fund the original news and commentary that our hard-working team produces every day. Your mission, readers, should you choose to accept it, is to help us raise $50,000 by the end of 2010.

Streetsblog is a non-profit news source, and all donations are tax-deductible. This is the first time we’ve done a fundraiser with specific goals on Streetsblog NYC, so I’ve put together a short explanation.

For our first four years, Streetsblog NYC was funded entirely by the generous support of a single donor, publisher Mark Gorton. With Mark’s financial backing, founding editor Aaron Naparstek made the site into a widely read source for livable streets news and commentary.

Streetsblog was the only place where you could count on reading probing stories about how New York City was falling far behind other world cities on transportation policy.

The issues and stories that Streetsblog covers trickle up through the mainstream press. They get read inside City Hall. You can be sure that a post about EDC chief Seth Pinsky’s belief in adding ample parking to the fabric of New York City will be noticed by none other than EDC chief Seth Pinsky. (You may also, perhaps, enjoy reading it yourself.) With a small staff and a lean budget, Streetsblog generates what officials have told us is “a disproportionate influence” over public policy.

We need your help to keep on pressing the case for transportation reform because, as a result of a court case pursued by the recording industry against Mark Gorton’s file-sharing company, LimeWire, he is no longer in a position to financially sustain our work. The upshot for Streetsblog NYC is simple: We need to develop a more diverse revenue stream, including direct support from our readers.

There is nothing optional about this process. Streetsblog NYC must make the transition to reader-supported funding, or else our publishing days are numbered. Without Streetsblog, New York would lose its most timely and widely read online voice for livable streets at a moment when progressive street design and transportation policies are still considered novel and controversial.

Our sister Streetsblogs in other cities have already been through this transition and emerged on the other side. Not long ago, Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog LA were also funded mainly by single benefactors. Now they’re funded by a mix of reader contributions, major donations, foundations, sponsorships, and ads. Streetsblog NYC has to make the same transition, and I know that with your help, we’ll do it.

Please give generously today, and get Streetsblog NYC to our goal of raising $50,000 by the end of the year.

This month, about 4,000 people visited Streetsblog on a typical weekday. If 10 percent of the people who visit Streetsblog on a single weekday give the equivalent of $10 a month, we’ll meet our goal for this drive.

If you are interested in making a major gift or matching donation during this pledge drive, please email me at ben [at] streetsblog [dot] org to learn more.

Thank you for reading Streetsblog, for making this site what it is today, and for supporting our work.

Ben Fried
Editor, Streetsblog New York City

Ben Fried
is the Editor-in-Chief of Streetsblog. He has been covering the movement for safer streets, effective transit, and livable cities since 2008.

I love Streetsblog, but would like to see more coverage of NYC’s suburbs, both urban (Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Hempstead, etc.) and suburban.

http://www.livablestreets.com/people/jqr Jonathan

Thank you Beverly and all the development folks for your hard work so far.

http://www.livablestreets.com/people/inwoodist Urbanis

Done! But I still want the sexy bike wash.

JamesR

Holiday Fundraising Party? Last year’s event was great, why not have another one?

Marco

I agree – thank you all for your ongoing hard work. This blog is *amazing*. But paying? I’ll just download it from Limewire.

http://www.livablestreets.com/people/markwalker Mark Walker

Done, and happy to help.

Mike

Can I make a substantial donation AND have a Ben+Noah sexy bike wash?

http://www.livablestreets.com/people/Nathan_H Nathan H.

The difference is, Marco, no one is going to sue you out of financial existence for reading and sharing Streetsblog without paying for it. 😉

Jon Geeting

Ever consider selling Streetsblog tshirts? I would certainly buy one.

Danny G

Thank you Streetsblog

molly

Streetsblog has, like, two staff members. Just donate!

jsd

I will donate but I demand a tote bag and a wonderful 14 piece VHS set of all this year’s Streetfilms.

http://www.livablestreets.com/people/BenFried/ Ben Fried

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for the contributions you’re sending our way — the response we’ve gotten so far is terrific.

We’re going to need to keep up a strong pace over the next couple of months to meet the target. Soon we’ll roll out the thermometer and all that jazz so you can keep track of our progress and feel guilty if you haven’t given yet.

We’ll have a Streetsblog fundraiser too, probably in the spring. It will be separate from this 2010 campaign. Clarence and the Streetfilms crew will be putting on a fall fundraiser very soon — stay tuned for details.

Again — I’m bowled over by the support folks are showing today. It’s really something and it will make a huge difference for Streetsblog going forward.

Keep it up and maybe we’ll ring in the New Year with a sexy polar bear bike wash, just for kicks.

mike

Done.. thanks Streetsblog for all that you do!

Ken Coughlin

Done. I can’t stress enough how important I believe Streetsblog is to the movement for livable streets and the promotion of active transportation. I will be passing this appeal on to my e-mail address book and I hope everyone will do the same. This priceless resource cannot be allowed to vanish.

http://www.livablestreets.com/people/HamTech87 Westchesterite

Done, for my favorite website. Keep up the great work! And love the Streetfilms.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bicyclesonly/ BicyclesOnly

Done. Streetsblog quite literally changed my life by connecting me with the ideas and some of the people that are now the most important to me. Keep it up!

http://www.bikeallentown.com/ JohnBiker

You are the voice of sanity in an insane society.

Thanks,
John

Emiko Earle

Valuable analysis – BTW , people require a a form , my business edited a sample document here http://goo.gl/nmjp0e